Water-heater.



J. R. PETTIFORD.

WATER HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY12,1915.

Patented Mar. 14, 1916 pivrTnp sTaTns PATENT oTTTcn.

JOHN R. 'PETTIFORD, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOB. To CHARLES E. GAFFNEY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

WATER-HEATER.

Application filed July 12, 1915. Serial No. 39,244.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN R. PETTIFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful lVater- Heater, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to water heaters.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved water heater comprising a tank, in combination with a burner, a heat confining wall of novel construction and arrangement supporting the burner, 'a bracket attached to said wall and having bearing upon the upper end of the tank to support the wall and the burner in proper position, and elements in connection with the wall and embracing .thetank whereby the device is retained in position in connection with the tank.

Another object is to provide a water heater comprising a burner and heat confining wall supporting the burner and provided with air vents at its side edges, whereby fresh air is admitted between the heat confining wall and the tank, and a supporting bracket connected to the upper end of the heat confining wall and bearing upon the upper end of the tank and arranged to deflect the rising heated air and products of combustion, if any, into a suitable outlet.

A further object is to provide a water heater comprising a burner and means for supporting the burner adjacent to the side wall of the tank, in combination with a de vice arranged to catch and support any condensed moisture accumulation upon the side wall of the tank as a result of the heat of the burner, or otherwise, and to retain the moisture until it is taken up or evaporated by the heat of the burner.

A further object is to provide a heater adapted to be applied to water tanks of varying dimensions with provision for maintaining the heater proper in position upon said tanks.

Other objects of general and specific nature will appear from the following detailed description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a boiler equipped with the invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, the smoke pipe being Patented Mar. 14:, 1916.

8 is a detail sectional view on the line 88 of Fig. 1, illustrating the passages at the side edges of the heat confining wall.

The tank 1 is of the usual upright type, provided with a water inlet pipe 2 and with a service pipe 3. The burner 4c is of arcuate form with its exterior of ornamental configuration. The inner wall of the burner is provided with a number of passages 5 which, in the form illustrated, are elongated slots through which the gas is discharged and ignited.

A number of projections 6 on the inner wall of the burner are arranged to bear against the wall of the boiler or tank of the larger size, as illustrated in Fig. 1, thus retaining the burner securely in its proper position with respect to the tank. Since it is intended that the device shall be interchangeable upon tanks of different sizes it will be understood that the projections 6 will not abut against the wall in a tank of small size. In order to support the burner securely in position upon the tanks of smaller size, I provide suitable sleeves 7 (Fig. 7) of appropriate length which are adapted to fit upon the projections 6 to provide the necessary elongated bearingelements for bearing against the wall of the tank of smaller size and to prevent displacement thereof. A valve-controlled gas supply pipe 8 opens through the lower wall of the burner.

To cooperate with the projections 6 and to catch and retain condensed moisture accumulating on the side wall of the tank, I provide a spring plate 9 having its'ends bearing against the inner wall of the burner and provided with slots 10 which receive the supporting lugs 11 rigid with the burner. In this manner the plate 9 is supported entirely below the passages 5 of the burner, and the intermediate portion of said plate which is arcuate in formation bears against the side wall of the tank and thereby cooperates with the projections 6 to retain the burner in proper adjustment, and said plate. will also receive any condensed moisture accumulating on the tank above said plate and prevent the moisture from dripping to the floor. The moisture accumulating upon the upper edge of the plate will be retained thereby until evaporated and carried away by the heat created by the burner.

An arcuate heat confining wall 12 has its lower end removably connected to the burner by screws 13, so that the inner wall of the burner and the inner surface of the wall 12 are in alinement and are supported at the same distance from the wall of the tank; The side edges of the wall 12 are curved inwardly as indicated at 14, (Fig. 3) toward the wall of the tank and are cut horizontally a slight distance in numerous places to enable the edge portions of the wall to be folded on oblique lines to provide folded portions 15 against the'inner side of the wall. Since the portions 15 are provided by bending or folding the wall on oblique lines there is formed between the upper end of one fold and the lower'end of the next adjacent fold a space 16 (Fig. 8) equal to the thickness of the folded portions 15, through which the air may pass into the space between the heat confining wall and the wall of the tank. The wall 12 is formed with an opening 17 a slight distance above the burner through which a match may be passed to light the burner, and, said open ingis controlled by a pivoted closure 18 which is retained by gravity in position to close the opening.

The upper end "of the wall 12 is detachably connected to a racket hanger 19 by removable screws 20. The hanger 19 extends over a portion of the top of the tank 1 and is provided with supporting legs 21 bearing upon the top wall of the tank and thus supporting the bracket hanger in position to provide a space through which the heated airand products of combustion may pass between said hanger and the end wall of the tankinto the outlet pipe 22. The outlet pipe 22 connects to a suitable flange 23 embracing a discharge opening from the bracket through which the heated air, etc., created by the burner and rising from the tank, may pass.

It will be understood from the foregoing that the entire weight of the device is supported by the bracket hanger 19 bearing upon the upper end wall of the tank and that this hanger bracket may be readily em ployed upon tanks of va ious sizes to which it may be desired to apply the heater. The device is retained in position by a number of releasablewires 24 passing through eyelets 25 attached to the wall 12, said wires thus passing entirely around the tank, be-

tween the wall 12 and the wall of the tank, and having their respective ends connected as will be understood by reference to Figs. 1 and 8. V

The heater may easily be detached from the tank simply by releasing the ends of the wires 24 and disconnecting the gas supply pipe and outlet pipe, so that it will be seen that the device is conveniently movable and may be interchanged from one tank to another and may readily be applied to tanks of different sizes.

From the foregoing it will be seen that my improved heater is entirely selfcontained and thatit is soconstructed that a maximum' heat is quicklyapplied near the top of the tank adjacent to the service pipe so that it is not necessary to heat the entire volume of water within the tank in order to obtain a supply of hot water through the service pipe. These advantages are the result of the novel construction illustrated and described inwhich it is obvious that the heater is arranged to supply heat to the tank near the upper end thereof and above the inlet pipe 2 by which cold water isadmitted into the tank.

It will be understood that there may. be modificationsof some of the parts included in the invention without departure'from the principles thereof. Therefore, I do not restrict myself to the precise forms illustrated, but

hat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A heater, comprising a tank of the vertical type, a burner adjacent to the side wall of the tank, a confining wall connected to said burner and supporting said burner in position, and a bracket bearing upon the upper end wall of said tank and connected to said confining wall and arranged to clefiect the heat over the top wall of said tank.

2. A heater, comprising a tank of the vertical type, an arcuate wall adjacent to the side wall of the tank, a burner supported by the lower end of saidarcuate wall, a bracket connected to said arcuate wall andarranged to deflect the heat over the top wall of the tank, and releasable elements holding said parts in position to retain said bracket'in position to deflect the heat over the top wall of said tank.

3. A heater, comprising a vertical tank,

a bracket seated upon and supported by the burner supported by said arcuate wall, and V a pipe connected to said bracket for egress of the fumes generated by the burner.

4;. A heater comprising, in combination, a

tank, a bracket seated upon the top wall of said tank and arranged to deflect the heat over the top Wall of the tank, an arcuate wall connected to said bracket and having its vertical edges adjacent to the side wall of said tank, a burner supported by said wall, spacers holding said burner in position with respect to said tank, and devices holding said wall in position to retain said bracket upon the top wall of said tank.

5. A heater comprising, in combination. a tank having a supply pipe, a bracket arranged to deflect the heated air from the side wall over the top wall of said tank, projections on said bracket bearing upon the top wall of said tank, an arcuate wall attached to and depending from said bracket, a burner supported by said arcuate wall above the opening of said supply pipe into said tank, spacers bearing against the side wall of said tank to hold the burner in proper position with respect to the tank.eyelets secured to said arcuate wall, and binding elements passing through said eyelets and encircling said tank and holding said parts in position.

6. A heater, comprising in combination, a tank, a bracket extending over the top wall thereof, projections on said bracket bearing upon the top wall of said tank, an arcuate wall detachably connected to said bracket and supported adjacent to the side wall of the tank and having its vertical edge por tions adjacent to the wall of the tank, folded portions at the vertical edges of said arcuate wall bearing against the wall of the tank, passages between said folded portions to admit air into the space between said arcu ate wall and the wall of the tank, a burner supported at the lower end of said arcuate wall, and elements passing between said arcuate wall and said tank encircling said tank and holding said parts in the positions aforesaid.

7 A heater comprising a tank, an arcuate heat confining wall adjacent to the side wall of said tank, a bracket seated upon and eX- tending over the upper end wall of said tank and being connected to and supporting said arcuate wall and arranged to deflect the heated air therefrom over the upper end wall of said tank, a burner supported by the lower end of said arcuate wall, and means in connection with said arcuate wall preventing lateral displacement of said parts.

8. A heater, comprising in combination a tank, abracket seated upon and wholly supported by the top wall of said tank and arranged to deflect the heated air and the fumes, a pipe for the fumes connected to said bracket, a burner adjacent to the side wall of the tank, and a heat confining wall connecting said burner with said bracket and holding said burner and said bracket in the positions aforesaid.

9. A heater, comprising in combination a tank, an arcuate burner, projections on said burner and adapted to bear against the side wall of a tank of one size, means adapted to be connected to said projections to bear against the side wall of a tank of another size, a heat confining wall connected to said burner, and means for supporting said wall and said burner at the side of the tank.

10. A heater, comprising in combination a tank, an arcuate burner, a spring plate supported by said burner and adapted to bear against the side wall of the tank, projections on said burner also adapted to bear against the side wall of the tank, a bracket seated upon the top wall of said tank, an arcuate wall connected to said bracket and supporting said burner from said bracket, and a passage through said wall affording access to light the burner.

11. A heater, comprising in combination a tank, a bracket seated upon and arranged to deflect the heat over the top wall of said tank, an arcuate wall supported bv said bracket and having its side edges adjacent to the wall of said tank, passages at the side edges of said wall admitting air between said wall and said tank. a burner supported by said wall, and spacing elements in connection with said burner bearing against the wall of said tank.

12 A heater, comprising in combination a tank, a wall embracing a part of the side wall of said tank, a burner supported by said wall, spacers retaining said burner in proper position relative to the side wall of the tank, a bracket in connection with the upper end of said wall bearing upon and arranged to deflect the heat over the upper wall of the tank, and a pipe in connection with said bracket for egress of the fumes rising from said burner.

18. A heater comprising a tank of the vertical type, a heat confining wall at the side of said tank arranged to deflect the heat vertically against the side wall of the tank, a burner supported by said wall and a bracket in connection with the upper end of said wall arranged to deflect the heat against the wall surface of the tank.

In witness whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN R. PETTIFORD. Witnesses:

N. G. BUTLER, L. C. KmosLANn.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

